Officials have to be bribed to obtain consent, SHGs allege Self-help groups (SHGs) involved in brick making, as well as artisans, complain that restrictions imposed by the department of mines to control illicit sand mining are crippling their trade, a charge denied by mining officials. Curbs on clay mining under the new regulatory regime have made it difficult for farmers to access the silt in dry tanks and private patta lands because of the long gestation period involved in obtaining official permission, SHGs claim. They point to the district administration’s earlier assurance that bricks for constructing houses under the government’s welfare programmes would be purchased only from the SHGs. They cite the case of a Munneerpallam-based SHG which bought a brick kiln with a capacity of producing 30,000 bricks at a time with the subsidised financial assistance of Rs.5 lakh. When the SHG members started their business, they easily secured official sanction to mine clay from patta lands nearby. Within a period of just over a year, they could produce over two lakh bricks and sell it at a price of Rs.5 a brick, facilitating loan repayments. The new regulations changed all that, SHGs say. Longdrawn procedures have been put in place. The assistant director of mines forwards the applications to the revenue official concerned who, in turn, inspects the proposed mining site and sends a report back to the department of mines, which gives its consent based on the inspection report. SHG members allege that they are forced to “grease the palms of officials” to obtain final clearance to mine the clay. The procedural delays as well as rising overhead costs involved in brick making are making the trade non-viable, SHGs complain. “The wages of Rs.600 (for a male worker) for making 1,000 bricks has increased to Rs.1,000 now. We also bear ‘incidental expenses’ for getting permission from the officials of mining and revenue departments. We’re not the only SHG affected by this official apathy. Other groups involved in brick making have been rendered jobless after incurring revenue loss,” says one of the SHG members running the brick kiln at Munneerpallam. But a senior official of the department of mines rejected the charges. “We’re clearing the applications from farmers, brick manufacturers and artisans as early as possible,” he said. Nobody in the department took bribes for granting permission to mine clay, he added.